United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue, the Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. On February 13,2017, the Senate confirmed Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury, the first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton, who was sworn into office on September 11,1789. Hamilton was asked by President George Washington to serve after first having asked Robert Morris, Hamilton almost single-handedly worked out the nations early financial system, and for several years was a major presence in Washingtons administration as well. His portrait is on the obverse of the U. S. ten-dollar bill while the Treasury Department building is shown on the reverse. Besides the Secretary, one of the best-known Treasury officials is the Treasurer of the United States whose signature, along with the Treasury Secretarys, the Treasury prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint.
The Department collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, the Congress had no power to levy and collect taxes, nor was there a tangible basis for securing funds from foreign investors or governments. The delegates resolved to issue paper money in the form of bills of credit, the Congress stipulated that each of the colonies contribute to the Continental governments funds. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4,1776, despite the infusion of foreign and domestic loans to pay for a war of independence, the United Colonies were unable to establish a well-organized agency for financial administration. Michael Hillegas was first called Treasurer of the United States on May 14,1777, the Treasury Office was reorganized three times between 1778 and 1781. The $241.5 million of paper Continental Dollars devalued rapidly, by May 1781, the dollar collapsed at a rate of from 500 to 1000 to 1 against hard currency. Protests against the worthless money swept the colonies and angry Americans coined the expression not worth a Continental, Robert Morris was designated Superintendent of Finance in 1781 and restored stability to the nations finances.
Morris, a colonial merchant, was nicknamed the Financier because of his reputation for procuring funds or goods on a moments notice. His staff included a Comptroller, a Treasurer, a Register, and auditors, who managed the finances through 1784. The Treasury Board of three Commissioners continued to oversee the finances of the confederation of former colonies until September 1789, the First Congress of the United States was called to convene in New York on March 4,1789, marking the beginning of government under the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton took the oath of office as the first Secretary of the Treasury on September 11,1789, Hamilton had served as George Washingtons aide-de-camp during the Revolution, and was of great importance in the ratification of the Constitution. Because of his financial and managerial acumen, Hamilton was a choice for solving the problem of the new nations heavy war debt. Hamiltons first official act was to submit a report to Congress in which he laid the foundation for the financial health
Federal Reserve Act
The Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. The Federal Reserve Act created a system of private and public entities, there were to be at least eight and no more than twelve private regional Federal Reserve banks. Twelve were established, and each had various branches, a board of directors, the Federal Reserve Board, consisting of seven members, was created as the governing body of the Fed. Each member is appointed by the President of the U. S, in 1935, the Board was renamed and restructured. Also created as part of the Federal Reserve System was a 12-member Federal Advisory Committee and a single new United States currency, the Federal Reserve Note. The Federal Reserve Act created a currency and a monetary system that could respond effectively to the stresses in the banking system. With the passing of the Federal Reserve Act, Congress required that all nationally chartered banks become members of the Federal Reserve System, since 1980, all depository institutions have been required to set aside reserves with the Federal Reserve.
Such institutions are entitled to certain Federal Reserve services, central banking has made various institutional appearances throughout the history of the United States. These institutions started with the First and Second banks of the United States, the American financial system was deeply fragmented after the American Revolutionary War. The government was burdened with large debts, and the new republic needed a strong financial institution to give the country a resilient financial footing. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had opposing views regarding whether or not the US could benefit from a European-style national financial institution, Hamilton was in favor of building a strong centralized political and economic institution to solve the country’s financial problem. He argued that a bank could bring order to the US monetary system, manage the government’s revenues and payments. On the other hand, Jefferson was deeply suspicious of a bank because, he argued. The First Bank of the United States was established in 1791 chartered for a period of twenty years, the US government was the largest shareholder of the bank.
Despite its shareholder status, the government was not permitted to participate in management of the bank, the bank accepted deposits, issued bank notes, and provided short-term loans to the government. It functioned as a clearinghouse for government debt, the bank could regulate state-charted banks to prevent overproduction of banknotes. The bank was successful in financing the government and stimulating the economy. In spite of its successes, hostility against the bank did not fade, in 1811, the first bank of the United States failed to be renewed by one vote in both the House and the Senate
Google Books
Books are provided either by publishers and authors, through the Google Books Partner Program, or by Googles library partners, through the Library Project. Additionally, Google has partnered with a number of publishers to digitize their archives. The Publisher Program was first known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004, the Google Books Library Project, which scans works in the collections of library partners and adds them to the digital inventory, was announced in December 2004. But it has criticized for potential copyright violations. As of October 2015, the number of scanned book titles was over 25 million, Google estimated in 2010 that there were about 130 million distinct titles in the world, and stated that it intended to scan all of them. Results from Google Books show up in both the universal Google Search as well as in the dedicated Google Books search website, if Google believes the book is still under copyright, a user sees snippets of text around the queried search terms.
All instances of the terms in the book text appear with a yellow highlight. The four access levels used on Google Books are, Full view, Books in the domain are available for full view. In-print books acquired through the Partner Program are available for full view if the publisher has given permission, the publisher can set the percentage of the book available for preview. Users are restricted from copying, downloading or printing book previews, a watermark reading Copyrighted material appears at the bottom of pages. All books acquired through the Partner Program are available for preview and this could be because Google cannot identify the owner or the owner declined permission. If a search term appears many times in a book, Google displays no more than three snippets, thus preventing the user from viewing too much of the book. Also, Google does not display any snippets for certain reference books, such as dictionaries, Google maintains that no permission is required under copyright law to display the snippet view.
No preview, Google displays search results for books that have not been digitized, in effect, this is similar to an online library card catalog. Google stated that it would not scan any in-copyright books between August and 1 November 2005, to provide the owners with the opportunity to decide which books to exclude from the Project. It can let Google scan the book under the Library Project and it can opt out of the Library Project, in which case Google will not scan the book. If the book has already been scanned, Google will reset its access level as No preview and this information is collated through automated methods, and sometimes data from third-party sources is used. This information provides an insight into the book, particularly useful when only a view is available
The North American
The North American was an American newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1839, though it could claim a lineage back to 1771, and published until 1925, the North American, a daily newspaper in Philadelphia, was first published on March 26,1839, by S. C. Later that year, the paper was acquired by C. G, childs and J. Reese Fry, along with the Commercial Herald. In October 1845, the paper was acquired by George R. Graham, well known as the publisher of Grahams Magazine, and Alexander Cummings, the Daily Advertiser suffix was dropped. Cummings soon departed over differences, and Morton McMichael joined Graham as publisher in January 1847. At that point, it was an influential Whig newspaper, in July of that year and playwright Robert Montgomery Bird was brought in as a one-third owner, and the paper was merged with the United States Gazette, another Whig paper in town. The paper was redubbed as the North American and United States Gazette, Graham left the paper in 1848, and McMichael and Bird became the driving forces in making the paper a journalistic and financial success.
After Bird died in 1854, McMichael continued as the owner until his death in 1879. The paper was a supporter of Abraham Lincoln, as it developed to become a supporter of the Republican party. The United States Gazette suffix was dropped from the name in 1876. McMichaels two sons assumed control of the paper in his years, his son Clayton assuming chief editorial duties. In 1899, the paper was acquired by Thomas B, in 1925, Cyrus Curtis, owner of the Public Ledger, acquired the North American from Thomas B. Wanamakers estate as part of his bid to grow the Ledger by shutting down some of its competitors, the Ledger adopted the official title Public Ledger and North American, until late 1927
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States. Polk was born in Pineville, North Carolina, and moved to Tennessee to study law, after building a successful law practice, he was elected to the Tennessee legislature and to the United States House of Representatives in 1825. He left Congress to serve as Governor of Tennessee from 1839 to 1841, after losing re-election as governor in 1840, and losing in another gubernatorial election in 1842, Polk was a dark horse candidate for president in 1844. Though he entered the convention hoping to be nominated for vice president, in the general election, he defeated Henry Clay of the rival Whig Party in large part due to his promise to annex the Republic of Texas. True to his pledge to serve only one term as President, Polk left office in March 1849. He died of cholera three months later, scholars have ranked him favorably on lists of greatest presidents for his ability to promote, obtain support for, and achieve all of the major items on his presidential agenda.
However, he has criticized for leading the country into war against Mexico. Polk has been called the least known consequential president, James Knox Polk, the first of ten children, was born on November 2,1795 in a log house in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County, just outside Charlotte. His father, Samuel Polk, was a slaveholder, successful farmer and his mother, Jane Polk, was a descendant of a brother of the Scottish religious reformer John Knox. She named her firstborn after her father James Knox, like many early Scots-Irish settlers in the North Carolina mountains, the Knox and Polk families were Presbyterian. While Polks mother Jane remained a devout Presbyterian her entire life, when the parents took the young James to a Presbyterian church to be baptized, the father Samuel refused to declare his belief in Christianity, and the minister refused to baptize the child. In 1803, most of Polks relatives moved to the Duck River area in what is now Maury County, Middle Tennessee, the family grew prosperous, with Samuel Polk turning to land speculation and becoming a county judge.
His health was problematic and in 1812 his pain became so unbearable that he was taken to Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Polk was awake during the operation with nothing but brandy available for anesthetic, but it was successful. The surgery may have left Polk sterile, as he did not sire any children, when Polk recovered, his father offered to bring him into the mercantile business, but Polk refused. In July 1813, Polk enrolled at the Zion Church near his home, a year he attended an academy in Murfreesboro, where he may have met his future wife, Sarah Childress. At Murfreesboro, Polk proved a promising student, in January 1816, Polk was admitted into the University of North Carolina as a second-semester sophomore. The Polk family had connections with the university, a school of about 80 students, Sam Polk was their land agent for Tennessee. While there, Polk joined the Dialectic Society where he took part in debates
Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek is an American weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L. P. Businessweek was founded in 1929, the magazine was created to provide information and interpretation about what was happening in the business world and it is headquartered in New York City. Megan Murphy was appointed editor of the magazine in November 2016, Businessweek was first published in September 1929, weeks before the stock market crash of 1929. The magazine provided information and opinions on what was happening in the world at the time. Businessweek was originally published to be a resource for business managers, however, in the 1970s, the magazine shifted its strategy and added consumers outside of the business world. Since 1975, Businessweek has carried more annual advertising pages than any magazine in the United States. Stephen B. Shepard served as editor-in-chief from 1984 until 2005 when he was chosen to be the dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Under Shepard, Businessweeks readership grew to more than six million in the late 1980s and he was succeeded by Stephen J.
Adler of The Wall Street Journal. Businessweek suffered a decline during the recession as advertising revenues fell one-third by the start of 2009. In July 2009, it was reported that McGraw-Hill was trying to sell Businessweek and had hired Evercore Partners to conduct the sale. Because of the liabilities, it was suggested that it might change hands for the nominal price of $1 to an investor who was willing to incur losses turning the magazine around. In late 2009, Bloomberg L. P. bought the magazine—for a reported price between $2 million to $5 million plus assumption of liabilities—and renamed it Bloomberg BusinessWeek. It is now believed McGraw-Hill received the high end of the price, at $5 million. Currently, the magazine still loses $30 million per year, about half of the $60 million it was reported losing in 2009, Adler resigned as editor-in-chief and was replaced by Josh Tyrangiel, who had been deputy managing editor of Time magazine. In early 2010, the title was restyled Bloomberg Businessweek as part of a redesign.
Megan Murphy is the editor of the magazine in the eight years of Bloomberg ownership. The magazine is losing between $20-$30 million a year. The magazine is to undergo changes in the second quarter of 2017
Second Bank of the United States
The banks formal name, according to section 9 of its charter as passed by Congress, was The President and Company, of the Bank of the United States. A private corporation with public duties, the bank handled all fiscal transactions for the U. S. Government, and was accountable to Congress, twenty percent of its capital was owned by the federal government, the banks single largest stockholder. Four thousand private investors held 80% of the capital, including one thousand Europeans. The bulk of the stocks were held by a few hundred wealthy Americans, in its time, the institution was the largest monied corporation in the world. The federal deposits endowed the BUS with its regulatory capacity, failing to secure recharter, the Second Bank of the United States became a private corporation in 1836, and underwent liquidation in 1841. A national alliance arose to legislate a central bank to address these needs, calhoun of South Carolina and Henry Clay of Kentucky was decisive in the successful chartering effort.
The charter was signed into law by Madison on April 10,1816, opposition to the banks revival emanated from two interests. if Congress could incorporate a bank, it might emancipate a slave. Hostile to the effects of the central bank, private banks—proliferating with or without state charters—had scuttled rechartering of the first BUS in 1811. These interests played significant roles in undermining the institution during the administration of U. S. President Andrew Jackson, Government land sales in the West, fueled by European demand for agricultural products, ensured that a speculative bubble would form. When the U. S. Further, it transpired that branch directors for the Baltimore office had engaged in fraud and larceny. Resigning in January 1819, Jones was replaced by Langdon Cheves who continued the contraction in credit in an effort to stop inflation and stabilize the bank, the central banks reaction to the crisis—a clumsy expansion, a sharp contraction of credit—indicated its weakness, not its strength.
The effects were catastrophic, resulting in a recession with mass unemployment. The financial crisis raised doubts among the American public as to the efficacy of paper money, upon this widespread disaffection the anti-bank Jacksonian Democrats would mobilize opposition to the BUS in the 1830s. The national bank was in disrepute among most Americans when Nicholas Biddle. Under Biddles guidance, the BUS evolved into a banking institution that produced a strong and sound system of national credit. From 1823 to 1833, Biddle expanded credit steadily, but with restraint, albert Gallatin, former Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, wrote in 1831 that the BUS was fulfilling its charter expectations. By the time of Jacksons inauguration in 1829, the bank appeared to be on solid footing. Public perceptions of the bank were generally positive
Subprime mortgage crisis
The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a nationwide banking emergency that contributed to the U. S. recession of December 2007 – June 2009. It was triggered by a decline in home prices after the collapse of a housing bubble, leading to mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. Declines in residential investment preceded the recession and were followed by reductions in household spending, spending reductions were more significant in areas with a combination of high household debt and larger housing price declines. A proximate cause was the rise in subprime lending. S, a high percentage of these subprime mortgages, over 90% in 2006 for example, were adjustable-rate mortgages. These two changes were part of a trend of lowered lending standards and higher-risk mortgage products. When U. S. home prices declined steeply after peaking in mid-2006, as adjustable-rate mortgages began to reset at higher interest rates, mortgage delinquencies soared. Securities backed with mortgages, including mortgages, widely held by financial firms globally.
Concerns about the soundness of U. S. credit and financial markets led to tightening credit around the world and slowing growth in the U. S. The crisis had severe, long-lasting consequences for the U. S. the U. S. entered a deep recession, with nearly 9 million jobs lost during 2008 and 2009, roughly 6% of the workforce. One estimate of lost output from the crisis comes to at least 40% of 2007 gross domestic product, U. S. housing prices fell nearly 30% on average and the U. S. stock market fell approximately 50% by early 2009. As of early 2013, the U. S. stock market had recovered to its pre-crisis peak, Economic growth remained below pre-crisis levels. Europe continued to struggle with its own crisis, with elevated unemployment. The immediate cause or trigger of the crisis was the bursting of the United States housing bubble which peaked in approximately 2005–2006. However, once interest rates began to rise and housing prices started to drop moderately in 2006–2007 in many parts of the U. S. borrowers were unable to refinance.
Defaults and foreclosure activity increased dramatically as easy initial terms expired, home prices fell, as housing prices fell, global investor demand for mortgage-related securities evaporated. This became apparent by July 2007, when investment bank Bear Stearns announced that two of its hedge funds had imploded and these funds had invested in securities that derived their value from mortgages. When the value of these securities dropped, investors demanded that these hedge funds provide additional collateral and this created a cascade of selling in these securities, which lowered their value further. Economist Mark Zandi wrote that this 2007 event was arguably the proximate catalyst for the market disruption that followed
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. The CFPB was established as an independent agency, but this status is being reviewed by the US Court of Appeals, according to Director Richard Cordray, the Bureaus priorities are mortgages, credit cards and student loans. The bureau is an independent unit located inside and funded by the United States Federal Reserve and it writes and enforces rules for financial institutions, examines both bank and non-bank financial institutions and reports on markets, as well as collects and tracks consumer complaints. The CFPB opened its website in early February 2011 to accept suggestions from consumers via YouTube, according to its web site, the CFPBs central mission. In July 2010, Congress passed the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, during the 111th United States Congress in response to the Late-2000s recession, the agency was originally proposed in 2007 by Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren.
The proposed CFPB was actively supported by Americans for Financial Reform, on July 17, President Obama nominated former Ohio Attorney General and Ohio State Treasurer Richard Cordray to be the CFPB first formal director. However, his nomination was immediately in jeopardy due to 44 Senate Republicans vowing to derail any nominee in order to encourage a decentralized structure to the organization, Senate Republicans had shown a pattern of refusing to consider regulatory agency nominees, purportedly as a method of budget cutting. Due to the way the legislation creating the bureau was written, until the first Director was in place and he noted lessons learned from experiences with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as support for his argument. Politico interpreted Shelbys statements as saying that Cordrays nomination was dead on arrival, Republican threats of a filibuster in the Senate to block the nomination in December 2011 led to Senate inaction. On July 16,2013, the Senate confirmed Richard Cordray as director in a 66–34 vote, on July 11,2013, the CFPB Rural Designation Petition and Correction Act was introduced into the House of Representatives.
One practical effect of having a county designated rural is that people can qualify for some types of mortgages by getting them exempted from the CFPBs qualified mortgage rule. On September 26,2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Safety, if adopted, the bill would have modified the CFPB by transforming it into a five-person commission and removing it from the Federal Reserve System. The CFPB would have renamed the Financial Product Safety Commission. The bill was intended to make it easier to override the CFPB decisions. It passed in the House of Representatives on February 27,2014 and was received by the Senate on March 4 and it was never considered in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Regulatory implementation regarding mortgages is covered on the bureau website, topics provided for consumers include,2013 mortgage rule implementation, resources to help people comply, quick reference charts and examination materials, and a link for feedback. It provides information that covers rural or under-served counties, HUD-approved housing counselors.
Appendix Q relates to the ratio that must be possessed for qualified mortgages and provides details about how to determine the factors for that calculation
Transaction account
A transaction account, checking account, current account or demand deposit account is a deposit account held at a bank or other financial institution. It is available to the account owner on demand and is available for frequent, access may be in a variety of ways, such as cash withdrawals, use of cheques and debit by electronic transfer. In economic terms, the funds held in an account are regarded as liquid funds. Transaction accounts are operated by businesses and personal users. Depending on the country and local demand economics they may not earn any or they can earn very high interest rates, in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, India and a number of other countries, they are commonly called current or cheque accounts. Because money is available on demand they are sometimes known as a demand accounts or demand deposit accounts. In the United States, NOW accounts operate as transaction accounts, most current accounts come with a cheque book and offer the facility to arrange standing orders, direct debits and payment via a debit card.
Current accounts may allow borrowing via an overdraft facility, in Holland in the early 1500s, Amsterdam was a major trading and shipping city. People who had acquired large accumulations of cash began to deposit their money with cashiers to protect their wealth and these cashiers held the money for a fee. Competition drove cashiers to offer services, including paying out money to any person bearing a written order from a depositor to do so. They kept the note as proof of payment, in the 18th century in England, preprinted checks, serial numbers, and the word cheque appeared. By the late 18th century, the difficulty of clearing checks gave rise to the development of clearing houses, all transaction accounts offer itemized lists of all financial transactions, either through a bank statement or a passbook. Canada has an Email Money Transfer service In India, NEFT, customers may need to attend a bank branch for a wide range of banking transactions including cash withdrawals and financial advice.
There may be restrictions on withdrawals, even at a branch. For example, withdrawals of cash above a threshold figure may require notice, many transactions that previously could only be performed at a branch can now be done in others ways, such as use of ATMs, online and telephone banking. Cheques were the method of making withdrawals from a transaction account. Automated teller machines enable customers of an institution to perform financial transactions without attending a branch. This enables, for example, cash to be withdrawn from an account outside normal trading hours
Financial Stability Oversight Council
The Office of Financial Research is intended to provide support to the council. The Dodd-Frank Act provides the Council with broad authorities to identify, the Act designates the Secretary of the Treasury as Chairperson. Inherent to the FSOCs role as a council is facilitation of communication among financial regulators. The FSOC has the authority to set aside certain financial regulations published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if those rules would threaten financial stability, at minimum, it must meet quarterly. The Report is intended to describe significant financial market and regulatory developments, analyze potential emerging threats, the July 26,2011 report warned that the United States faces potential losses connected with the European debt crisis. In September 2014, a group of Republican lawmakers accused U. S. regulators of disparate treatment of financial firms currently considered for tougher oversight. Since the inception of FSOC, the Council has designated select financial market utilities as “systemically important.
”The designation of systemically important subjects the FMU to enhanced regulatory oversight. The three supervisory agencies charged with regulating systemically important FMUs are, the Federal Reserve Board and Exchange Commission, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which limits the powers of advisory committees, does not apply to the council. The council has an almost unlimited budget in that the Council may draw on virtually any resource of any department or agency of the federal government. Any employee of the government may be detailed to the Council without reimbursement. Any member of the Council who is an employee of the federal government serves without additional compensation, Any expenses of the Council shall be treated as expenses of, and paid by, the Office of Financial Research. The Council has very broad powers to monitor and assess any risks to the US financial system, on a regular basis, the Council is required to make a report to Congress describing the state of the U. S. financial system.
The Federal Reserve may promulgate safe harbor regulations to exempt certain types of banks from regulation. A state banking supervisor, to be designated by a process determined by the state banking supervisors
